四签名 96琼诺赞·斯茂的奇异故事（6）

Well, I was never in luck's way long. Suddenly, without a note of warning, the great mutiny broke upon us.

唉，真是好景不长。突然间，大叛乱出人意料地爆发了。

One month India lay as still and peaceful, to all appearance, as Surrey or Kent;

前一个月，人们还和在祖国一样地安居乐业，

the next there were two hundred thousand black devils let loose, and the country was a perfect hell.

到下一个月，二十多万黑鬼子就失去了约束，把全印度变成了地狱一般。

Of course you know all about it, gentlemen--a deal more than I do, very like, since reading is not in my line.

当然，这些事你们几位在报纸上都已见过了，或者比我这个不识字的人还知道得多呢，

I only know what I saw with my own eyes.

因为我只知道我看到的事情。

Our plantation¹ was at a place called Muttra, near the border of the Northwest Provinces.

我们靛青园的所在地叫作穆特拉，靠近西北几省的边缘。

Night after night the whole sky was alight with the burning bungalows²,

每天晚上烧房的火焰照得满天通红。

and day after day we had small companies of Europeans passing through our estate with their wives and children,

每天白天都有小队的欧洲兵士保护着他们的家小，

on their way to Agra, where were the nearest troops.

经过我们的靛青园开往最近驻有军队的阿格拉城去避难。

Mr. Abel White was an obstinate³ man.

园主阿勃怀特先生是一位固执的人，

He had it in his head that the affair had been exaggerated, and that it would blow over as suddenly as it had sprung up.

他以为这些叛变的消息不免有些夸大，他想不久就可平复下去，

There he sat on his veranda⁴, drinking whisky-pegs and smoking cheroots, while the country was in a blaze about him.

他还是照旧坐在凉台上喝酒吸烟，可是周围早已烽烟四起了。

Of course we stuck by him, I and Dawson, who, with his wife, used to do the book-work and the managing.

1 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

2 bungalows   

n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋

参考例句：

• It was a town filled with white bungalows. 这个小镇里都是白色平房。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We also seduced by the reasonable price of the bungalows. 我们也确实被这里单层间的合理价格所吸引。 来自互联网

3 obstinate   

adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的

参考例句：

• She's too obstinate to let anyone help her.她太倔强了，不会让任何人帮她的。
• The trader was obstinate in the negotiation.这个商人在谈判中拗强固执。

4 veranda   

n.走廊；阳台

参考例句：

• She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
• They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。